Protecting your outdoor furniture going into those darker colder months

Well, winter is well and truly on its way, isn’t it? We have plunged into those dark evenings and the commute home from work is more than likely done with your headlights on now. So, probably the last thing you want to bother yourself with is thinking about protecting your garden furniture before the cold, dark and damp days set in.

But, despite it sounding like a mammoth task, it really is quite simple to take a few steps to help give some protection to your outdoor furniture through this winter. If you have had your wooden garden furniture for a few years or it is a new purchase that you have had enjoying your first summer with, we all know that buying good quality teak garden furniture is not cheap. Whether you have a stunning solid teak patio set or even something manufactured from metal or another timber, making sure it will last for many years to come so you can get your money’s worth is very important.

In this blog we will look at a few easy steps you can take to help keep your garden furniture clean and also protected from whatever the harsh British winter might throw at it. These steps are not things that will end up taking days to complete but spending some quality time carrying out these tasks will pay benefits come the longer lighter evenings and sunnier, warmer days. As we specialise in solid teak garden furniture this blog will mainly concentrate on cleaning and looking after your teak tables, teak chairs, and teak benches but the general principles will be similar depending on the material that your garden furniture is manufactured from.

Firstly, ensure your furniture is clean. This is really important! Remove any dirt, debris or other organic matter that could cause pests to be attracted or cause mould. There are specialist teak wood cleaners available that can be used to clean your teak garden furniture but if you do not have any of this then a mild solution of washing up liquid and warm water will help to remove dirt and debris from your teak garden furniture. Using a soft brush, sponge or cloth, clean your garden furniture concentrating on any joints that could trap unwanted dirt and grime. Rinse thoroughly and allow to fully dry before proceeding. We do not recommend the use of a pressure washer as these can be very powerful and can easily damage the surface of the wood.

Once fully dry it is then best to add some protection to your teak. Again, there are a vast array of teak specific products on the market that are designed to give protection to your teak outdoor furniture. We are not going to specifically recommend one product but will just say that whatever you decide to use, please ensure that it is suitable for use on teak and that you follow the manufacturers guidelines and application instructions to ensure that you do not cause any unnecessary damage to your teak garden furniture.

If you are not lucky enough to have somewhere dry and sheltered to store your teak garden furniture through the months when it is not needed, then investing in a good quality furniture cover is key to helping prolong the life of your garden furniture. Again, there is a vast selection of furniture covers available ranging in price and quality. We advise that you ensure that you get a breathable cover to allow your patio furniture to breathe and ensure it does not fit too tightly so to stop air movement around your garden bench or patio set whilst being stored. Covers for individual items seem to work best in our opinion rather than one massive cover to go over your entire collection of teak furniture. 

Another great tip for you if you are unable to store your teak furniture in the dry, meaning it will be left covered outside, is to lift the furniture off of the floor to stop the legs of your teak garden bench or teak garden chairs, for example, sitting in standing water. These can be weak points as they will be standing in water for a long time as we all know how damp the winter months can be here in the UK, so raising the legs onto something that won’t absorb water can be very beneficial.

If you are one of the lucky ones that has a dry area in your garage, shed or outbuilding that you can store your garden furniture in safely, then that is fantastic, but wherever you store your garden furniture do not forget about all of the accessories that you may also have with your furniture. For example, your garden chair cushions or garden parasols, to name just a few. Moving these smaller items indoors or into somewhere dry can again be very beneficial come the warmer months. Otherwise, Ottena now has a range of parasol covers for sale which have been tailormade for our range of garden parasols. This is a good alternative to protect your garden parasol through the winter. 

Hopefully this will give you some ideas and pointers on what simple things you can do to help protect and prolong the life of your teak garden furniture. A few simple steps can ensure that your investment is protected for many years to come. We hope this has helped but if you have any other questions about this topic or any of our teak garden furniture and wooden garden parasols then drop us an email to hello@ottena.co.uk.